well let's break it down.
Celtics in: Smart, Young, Thornton, Zeller, Turner
Boston out: Hump, Bayless,
That's essentially the core changes to the team. Then you factor in that Rondo should be 100% healthy and the young players (KO, Sully, Faverani) are a year more experienced....Plus, Brad Stevens is no longer a rookie coach.
Naturally, this team should be better. The ONLY thing that scares me right now is playing time. With the roster as is, there are too many players and not enough minutes to go around. I believe there will be another change or 2 before the season starts. But if you look at this team right now I'm worried about who's playing where and for the players not receiving minutes, how will that effect team chemistry?
Rondo-Bradley-Green-Bass-Zeller
Smart-Thornton-Turner-Sully-Olynyk
Pressey-Young-Wallace-Faverani
who really knows what the rotation would be...who emerges and who falters. But a concern of mine would be the following.
-I want to see Smart, Sully, KO and Turner playing significant minutes. But who are they taking minutes away from?
-What if James Young is more NBA ready then we are giving him credit for? People have him spending time in the D-League? Yet, he was arguably the best player on a National Championship runner up. Randle was the best player but Young was right there with Randle in terms of impact.
-Marcus Smart needs to play. Where is he getting minutes? IMO, Smart is going to be awesome. I actually think he's better then Avery Bradley sooner rather then later.
My lineup would look like this: Rondo-Smart-Green-Sully-Zeller with Bradley-Turner=Young-Bass-KO getting key backup minutes. Thornton can score and Wallace is a vet but neither one of those guys has a future here so for me they are riding the pine at the end of the bench.